Fantasy Setting
The setting we've created is loosely based on several of the most popular fantasy settings around, and isn't aiming for a classic dungeon crawler mood, nor an adventure setting, but rather a gritty and dark medieval world, very low fantasy infact, even geographycally being based on the real world as we know it (almost). Geography The planet is roughly the same size, and the geography remains much the same, with some exceptions, namely that the occean north of what is in reality Norway, is frozen. Genesis & History It isn't known whether Chaos and Cosmos are actual "people" or simply some massive forces of the universe (infact, beyond the universe), it is known that they are essentially one and the same, and yet they are so much that the two sides of the same coin are so very different that they have practically nothing in common. Like cold and warmth, they are two extremes, both considered temperature, but with Chaos and Cosmos, it is as if there is no middle-ground, apart from what they generate by keeping eachother in place. It is known that the gods were created by Cosmos, or rather they were created by Vigil, the greater god who is the will of Cosmos. It is also known that Chaos was trapped inside a plane granting him limited options to manipulate the world, but in trapping Chaos, Cosmos himself (sapients adapting to religion were initially too ignorant to view Cosmos as a force instead of a person, and personified Cosmos and Chaos as two male over-gods - This custom persists) vanished, most likely trapped in his own plane. Unlike Chaos, Cosmos had left behind servants who would do his bidding and keep his order, and as such, the world was created longa after Cosmos and Chaos had both been sealed away in each their planes, both capable of manipulating the world faintly. The greater gods were resonsible for the universe being as it is, and while it was initially said that Chaos was trapped inside the planet itself and that the first creature on earth was sent to be his guardian, this has long since proved false. The first creature existed was an embodiment of everything the gods stood for. Perfection in everything, the great Elder Dragon. A being as capable of working magic as the Celestials (godly servants who actually did most of the creating, by the bidding of their lords), an apex predator suited for life in every environment, fully sapient and more than that, timeless and deathless. A perfect creature for a perfect universe. No one alive actually ever experienced the Elder Dragon, apart from the greater gods (hardly any of the lesser gods were created by then - but no one knows for certain), so it is difficult to say if the myth about the great dragon were true, but supposedly, the creature was manipulated by Chaos, and laid eggs, eggs infused equally with the essence of Chaos and Cosmos. Some speculate that the dragons pregnancy was a result of it being open to absorb the essences of those great powers, and not active or even intended manipulation. The eggs hatched and dragons of all kinds, many now extinct, fueled by either Cosmos or Chaos now roamed the world, and the myth holds that the great dragon died, but why or how is not discussed, but the myth insists that all mountains are infact the decayed bones of this ancient creature. The new dragons fought each other, because their natures compelled them to be directly opposed to each other. Factions were formed, but their struggle was of little consequence. Why, how or even when the Ancient Dwemer, the Ancestor Dwarves, were created is unknown. It is only known that they were created from stone as devout followers of Cosmos who were timeless and immortal, perfectly suited to live underground where the dragons did not soar, equipped to turn the very planet into weapons they could use against the dragons. They allied with some of the dragons, or rather kept a truce with them, and hunted the rest as if they were mortal enemies for some reason. The ancestor dwarves were essentially everybit as perfect beings as the dragons, but had one major advantage, they reproduced without need of intercourse or any form of relation with eachother. They simply "produced" more of themselves. Ancient Elven writings suggest the original Dwemer were actually sapient constructs. They wielded the same magical powers as the dragons inherently understood, but with no need for practice because their powers were granted by the divine. Obviously less powerful than dragons alone, but standing together, they were more than a match. How the dragons managed to mate with the Dwemer is a mystery that illudes history, because the Dwemer were supposedly barely living creatures. Sapient, yes, but organic they were not. Indeed, they most likely didn't even have genitals. However, they did manage to mate with the dragons somehow, most likely as a result of a sinister plot to destroy the Dwemer from within, desigined by one of the chaos infused dragons, this is at least what the Dwarves themselves belief, which is their main reason for their immense hatred towards most kinds of dragons. The result of their mating somehow undid the Dwemer. The mixing of Chaos into their existence unmade them and the Dwarves were created. From them would soon the other earthling races spring, the gnomes and the halflings, but the undoing of their race was a slow process, the immediate result of their downfall was more interesting; the offspring of the mating resulted in the Eldar, the Ancestor Elves, magically infused like the dragons, timeless and deathless like both their parents, neither chaotic nor lawful, these sapient beings were not ruled by their nature and had choice. The Eldar and the Dwemer were occasionally enemies, occasionally at peace, occasionally even allies, as the Eldar did not unite as a single faction, as did the Dwemer. Some Eldar were allies of the dragons, using them as mounts or serving them as priests, worshipping them, others commanded armies of dragons, or were minions of dragons, some had nothing to do with the dragons at all. Empires rose and fell, and eventually, the Dwemer had devolved into the Dwarves, creatures that like the elves, had choice, but were no longer deathless nor timeless, not entirely at least. The Dwarves still enjoy exceptionally long lives, but they are not eternal as their ancestors were. The Dwarves quickly split into several sub-races, the Haflings and the Gnomes most notably, and it's believed that mating between the Dwarven races, known as Earthling races (all essentially related to the planet) and the Eldar resulted in a peculiar species, peculiar by their standards, anyway. The humans were born. The fertility rates were off the chart compared to Eldars. Dwarves had a much easier time concieving children than the Eldar, but their children grew up as slowly as Eldar children, and they still could not reproduce as fast as humans by any means. Humans were used as cheap labour by the Eldar, and in some cases, the Earthling races as well, but eventually, too many of them were in existence, and they took over building their own empire upon the ruins of the Eldar realms. They did not venture into the kingdoms of the Dwarves, as they lacked the competence to endure below ground, but they drove the Eldar into the woods and to the top of the mountains, and to the edges of the world. Some remained among the humans, as slaves and prisoners, the tables turned. A race came into existence, known as the elves, the result of the perversion of the Eldar blood, which seemed, much like it was once the case with the Dwemer, to spread like wildfire, even to those who were not subject to the cross-breeding. It is said that some Eldar remain, but only the elves would know. The elves most affected by this cross-breeding were the elves taken as slaves. Essentially humans, only looking elven in appearance, these Elves came to be known as "City Elves". Genetically almost identical to the result of crossbreeding a human with an elf of any race. Those driven to the woods came to be known under many names, the Dalish, the Wood Elves and the Wild Elves. Those driven away found peaceful places to live, were known as the Moon Elves and those that remained true to the Eldar Ways called themselves the "Sun elves" or "High Elves". The great human Empire was built upon the ruins of the Eldar Empire, and followed the same customs initially, the church of Cosmos, which included worship of all the gods was a strong factor in keeping all the humans on the continent in question united, but several hundred years later, the great scourge happened, when the first undead walked the realm, coming from the north. They brought with them a darkness that corrupted everything they touched into twisted versions of themselves. A wall built in the mountains of the far north was a key-point in the defences, and would many years later still stand as a beacon of hope against the enduring undead threat and the corruption of the races, despite serving no actual function, as it's fairly easy to walk under or around the wall. The orcs, goblins and dark-elves were created by this corruption, and undeath remained a problem. Many strange creatures started roaming the countryside, no one knew from where they came. The empire eventually disbanded as kingdoms fell and rose, but part of the original empire endured, and it managed to reforge itself after an era of relative peace from the corrupted races and the undead and now stands strong again, albeit the pieces have been put together differently.